60 Replies

No one has mentioned using putty to ssh into you host system. Root is disabled from login in through the terminal but you can SSH in with any other user. VM protecting you from accidentally screwing something up by accident. Although once you are in you can still issue "SU" and tytpe in your root password to change configuration. Sorry I can not rember but I do not think you are using a KVM, if you are make sur ethat the KVM is on the proper host during the entire boot process other=wise you have issues. Also what version (build number) of ESXi are you using? This way we can get you more direct info on your installation. If you are able to get in that way try running /etc/rc3.d/kudzu this is the hardware wizard with in ESX see if it can find your keyboard for you and make it work. I have to dig through soem older notes to see if I can give you more specifics on how to use the command I believe that I am missing something.

Ok we did this in version 3.0 and it appears that kudzu has changed it is now graphical however in my note I noticed that when we had this issue on our Blades with this issue we were able to overcome this issue by turn off all power management in the bios and on the guest systems and other hosts in our blade center and we never saw this again. How ever the K95kudzu or just plain kudzu as I mentioned in my previous post should help re-discover your keyboard in this situation.

No one has mentioned using putty to ssh into you host system. Root is disabled from login in through the terminal but you can SSH in with any other user. VM protecting you from accidentally screwing something up by accident. Although once you are in you can still issue "SU" and tytpe in your root password to change configuration. Sorry I can not rember but I do not think you are using a KVM, if you are make sur ethat the KVM is on the proper host during the entire boot process other=wise you have issues. Also what version (build number) of ESXi are you using? This way we can get you more direct info on your installation. If you are able to get in that way try running /etc/rc3.d/kudzu this is the hardware wizard with in ESX see if it can find your keyboard for you and make it work. I have to dig through soem older notes to see if I can give you more specifics on how to use the command I believe that I am missing something.

He is physically at the system, he should be able to get in no issues with Infrastructure Client, no need to complicate it with SSH and Putty

I am only staing how we fixed our issue with ESX sorry you think it is complicated Curtis. If he has a KVM that is USB only why not try a way that does not require new hardware. I offered him a way to repair the problem in this not just telling him to get another keyboard which is what is posted from every web search you do on the subject. I thought the community was about giving what has worked for you ijn the past to fix problems. Besides what does the infrastructure client give you to effect the host unless I am reading this wrong he does not want to work with a guest OS. His problem lies with the host.

Yeah Curtis, reread his post - he's not complicating the situation - he's solving it. Sounds like every hardware option from an interface perspective has been checked and as the user noted - it works fine at boot as he can enter the BIOS etc. So, clearly the issue lies within ESXi host configuration. I think the SSH access and repair is a brilliant thought.

Yeah Curtis, reread his post - he's not complicating the situation - he's solving it. Sounds like every hardware option from an interface perspective has been checked and as the user noted - it works fine at boot as he can enter the BIOS etc. So, clearly the issue lies within ESXi host configuration. I think the SSH access and repair is a brilliant thought.

I'll be tracking this one to resolution and making a KB just in case!

What I'm saying is that this is what the Infrastructure Client is for.

Do you have/use ESX?

I'm in it daily and fix stuff monthly this way, I've been in it 3 times today on Host machines.

You can open a console session here, I'm not following the issue I guess.

@FunctionOne -- yes the consoles can be opened within the client for each individual VM you are running. Instead of having to connect directly to each VM using RDP or whatever method, the console gives you a way of doing so through one interface -- the vSphere Client.

Technically, you don't really need the console to manage and run a ESX host. You can use Remote CLI, Powershell and the VIC to do most everything you need. You may be at the point of having to reinstall ESX because either the USB driver got borked, or the keyboard driver did.

With SSH you could get to the console and perhaps repair both, or simply reinstall ESX on the box (ESX will recognize any local VMFS volumes and reuse them, it'll prompt you). If you have a SAN and some shared storage you'll have to reconfigure that and any network settings you need.